What’s all the Sugar Hype anyway?

Ugh – is sugar on your mind too?  How to avoid eating it?  And trying to understand why you are craving it so much?  And why it has to be in everything?

Let me share some of the science behind sugar and what’s really going on!

When digested, carbohydrates are broken down into sugar and absorbed into the bloodstream.  How much sugar enters the bloodstream is determined by how high in sugar the food consumed was.  Eating a donut – high, bagels / pancakes – high, sweet potato – much much lower.

When we eat sugar, it leads to an increase in the amount of sugar in our blood (ie. blood sugar). When our blood sugar levels rise, our body releases insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone that acts like a key. It allows (opens the receptors) for blood sugar to leave the blood and enter our cells, where it can be used for energy or stored as fat (eek). 

When we consume too much sugar, insulin resistance can occur.  Insulin what?  Insulin resistance is when all your cell receptors for insulin are already full and thus we need more and more insulin to unlock the cells so we can store the sugar in them.  When this occurs, our body isn’t burning sugar effectively.  Plus, if we’re too busy to get in daily exercise, we have no external factors removing the blood sugar, and allowing insulin to store the new sugar we are consuming.

So what does all this “science” mean for the busy successful female…she will gain weight.  We ideally want to consume no more than 15 grams of sugar per day.

In the next article…I will show you some swaps in order to make this happen!  For now…pay attention to how much sugar you are currently consuming.  Hint – check your nutrition facts label for any added sugars or any ingredients ending in -ose.